The Irrepressible Politics of the Black Panther Party

San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Public Library is excited to bring to the stage the authors of San Francisco’s One City One Book selection for 2017: Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party. Facilitated by journalist “Davey D” Cook, authors Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. will discuss the dynamics of the Black Panther Party and reflect on the movement’s link to today’s struggles.

Program: One City One Book Authors in Conversation

Date: Sunday, Oct. 29

Time: 1 p.m.

Place: Main Library, 100 Larkin St., Koret Auditorium

Cost: Free

Black against Empire is the first comprehensive overview and analysis of the history and politics of the Black Panther Party. Bold, engrossing, and richly detailed, the book cuts through the mythology and obfuscation, revealing the political dynamics that drove the explosive growth of this revolutionary movement and its disastrous unraveling.

“Black people in cities throughout the North and West were yearning for ways to stand up to police brutality and persistent racism. For several years, the Black Panther Party set the standard,” says co-author Bloom. “Waldo and I wrote the book to make sense of the how and why. Those questions are as vital now as they were in the late 1960s – as a new generation of activists seeks to challenge racism, authoritarianism, and many forms of oppression.”

Black against Empire, published by the University of California Press, is the winner of the American Book Award. The book has been banned by the CA Department of Corrections and CA inmates are currently forbidden to possess or read it. Copies of Black against Empire are featured in all San Francisco libraries and at bookstores around the city.

About the authors

Joshua Bloom is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. He studies the dynamics of insurgent practice and social transformation. He is the co-editor of Working for Justice: The L.A. Model of Organizing and Advocacy. Waldo E. Martin, Jr., is the Alexander F. and May T. Morrison Professor of History and Citizenship at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America, Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents and The Mind of Frederick Douglass.

About One City One Book

One City One Book: San Francisco Reads is an annual citywide literary event that encourages members of the San Francisco community to read the same book at the same time and then discuss it in book groups and at events throughout the City. By building bridges between communities and generations through the reading and most importantly the discussion of – one book, we hope to help to make reading a lifelong pursuit and to build a more literate society. Sponsors for One City One Book include the San Francisco Public Library and Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. The program is also supported by many bookstore partners, program partners and media sponsors.